Ultimate threat: appear in EA’s game, lose your UFC contract

As head of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, Dana White controls most Mixed …

Mixed Martial Arts is a sport that's beginning to see mainstream acceptance in the United States, and with an explosive night of fights—not to mention impressive sales—the UFC 100 event pushed the sport further into the bright lights of success. Now that the sport has proven its popularity and legitimacy, EA wants to get into the game, but Ultimate Fighting Championship President Dana White has threatened to blacklist any fighter who appears in an EA MMA title.

"I'm not tap-dancing around this thing or whatever," White said, as reported by MMA Junkie. "I'm telling you straight-up, I'm at war with them right now. That's how I look at it." What happens if a fighter agrees to an appearance in EA's MMA title? Simple. "You won't be in the UFC," White claimed.

That's not a small threat; while other promotions have found success in different areas of the world, UFC is the face of Mixed Martial Arts in the United States. If a fighter wants to have a career in the states, he's going to have to stay on Dana White's good side.

UFC has also created one of the quickest routes to fame in Mixed Martial Arts: the reality show The Ultimate Fighter. If you look at UFC's roster of fighters, a large number of names and faces came from that show; the fight between Forrest Griffin and Stephan Bonnar in the finale of the show's first season is widely considered a classic in Mixed Martial Arts. UFC has the tools to make you a star, or destroy you... and it all may come down to which video game you appear in.

At war with EA, and itself

The reason for this animosity? White wanted to create UFC games with EA in the past, before the UFC's current success. By his accounts, EA shunned both his company and the sport itself.

"It's easy to sit on the other side of the table and judge me on how I react to stuff like this, but let me tell you what—I've been in the trenches for almost 10 years, and I've been dealing with all these businesses, and EA was one of them," White explained. "EA Sports told us, 'You're not a real sport, we wouldn't touch this thing. We want nothing to do with this.'"

White is also sitting on one of the more surprising success stories in gaming: THQ-published UFC 2009 Undisputed sold 679,600 copies on the Xbox 360 in May, and another 334,400 copies on the PlayStation 3. White points to the difficulties of launching that franchise in the current economy, and EA's interest only coming after the sport's success. Of course, he phrased his points in more colorful language than I'm allowed to use here.

This may be the rare case where EA isn't in the position of power. White has the luxury of an already-successful game based on Mixed Martial Arts, and for many fighters the possibility of a UFC contract is worth much more than an appearance in a video game. Randy Couture may be gracing the game's cover, but that deal was only struck after a lengthy court battle with UFC. That's more evidence that EA knows the power of UFC-branded fighters, and White's public threats could deal a large blow to the lineup in EA's title.

Dana White has already shown a willingness to throw his weight around over the gaming issue. Welterweight contender Jon Fitch was dropped from the UFC when he balked at signing a lifetime deal for THQ to use his likeness in its UFC game. Fitch later signed the deal to appear in the game, and returned to the UFC. The lesson was, it seems, learned quickly.

White's strategy is clear: if you don't want to play things his way, you can find another house to fight in. Right now, the UFC controls the money in US Mixed Martial Arts, and both EA and UFC fighters are starting to understand how much power Dana White has gathered in the sport. If he gets you in his own game, your likeness rights are locked down for a lifetime. If you go to EA, you'll never fight in the UFC again. For people who are paid to get punched in the head, this is the rare uncomfortable position that occurs outside the octagon.